Earlier: Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increased to 281,000

A quick graph of unemployment claims … Note: Starting with this release, the DOL is including a table of unadjusted State-level “advance”claims.

The DOL reported:

In the week ending June 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 281,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 271,000. The 4-week moving average was 274,750, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 273,750.

There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 274,750.

This was above the consensus forecast of 270,000, and the low level of the 4-week average suggests few layoffs.Calculated Risk